Over the years, consumers have shifted demand from cloth diapers to disposable diapers for infants and toddlers. This demand has increased and developed the disposable diaper industry into a major industry. As this industry developed, consumers preferred and often demanded improvements in disposable products which included better core absorbency, products which are easier to fasten, detach, and reattach side peripheries of the waistbands, various sizes of products for various weights and sizes of infants and toddler, and better control of leakage from the legs and waistbands when the diaper is positioned on an infant or toddler.
This development of the disposable diaper industry, however, has increased demand for faster and more efficient disposable undergarment production. This demand is further complicated by the development of disposable infant, toddler, and adult briefs, which have a different product configuration and have different product performance requirements than disposable diapers. Also because of the relative success of the disposable diapers and the high volume of disposable diaper products produced in manufacturing, the market for these brief products has generally been a much smaller subset of the infant and toddler disposable diaper market. The demand for briefs in general is substantially less than the disposable diapers. Accordingly, these specially configured briefs are not normally produced on the same production line as the disposable diaper production line. Because the market demand for these briefs is less, product manufacturers are less inclined to invest in additional machinery for producing these products. The product manufacturer, however, is also pushed by retailers and consumers to provide a full-line of disposable products for infants and toddlers.
Additionally, as the nursing home care and elderly care industry has grown over the years, the elderly often have needed more and more assistance from nursing home or elderly care personnel, including urination and bowel movement assistance. Urination and bowel movement problems have also arisen among various aged adults such as loss of bladder control through childbirth or other medical reasons.
Further, waistbands have been developed over the years which are secured to various undergarments along a stitch line formed on upper front, rear, and side peripheries of an undergarment fabric panel. Waistband straps and belts have also been developed which have one end secured to or otherwise fastened to an upper rear periphery of an undergarment fabric panel, extend outwardly therefrom, and have the other end secured or otherwise fastened (e.g., buttoned) to an upper front periphery of the same undergarment fabric panel.
Nevertheless, these conventional waistbands are often expensive, formed of a heavy fabric or single elastic sheet, and can be used multiple times until damage, staining, or the like. Example's of these conventional waistbands are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,508 titled "Self-Centering Multiple Use Garment Suspension System", by Bolick and U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,249 titled "Absorbent Undergarment With Fluid Transfer Layer And Elasticized Crotoa Design" by Miller et al. This expense and lack of disposability become particularly problematic when manufacturing disposable undergarments in high volume and at a high rate of speed. In other words, the waistband of conventional undergarments are either not applicable or make up too much of the cost of manufacturing an undergarment so that the undergarment is cost prohibitive or much less competitive to manufacture.
Additionally, waistbands or belts for attaching and detaching to an undergarment panel have been developed for hygienic articles. Examples of these waistbands or belts are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,022 titled "Disposable Hygienic Article With Removable Belt" by Pigneul et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,162 titled "Carment And Pleated, Adjustable Strap Member Therefor" by Kuen, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,262 titled "Adjustable Garment Attachment System" by Keuhn, Jr. et al. These waistbands and belts, however, often have a complex construction, are expensive and difficult to manufacture in high volume, and often lack the necessary elasticity and comfort for wearers of the undergarment and waistband.
Further, disposable elastic structures have been developed which include a complex arrangement of a single elastic strip or a plurality of elastic strips and a layer of adhesive tape positioned between layers of non-woven material. Examples of these structures are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,801 titled "Method Of Forming A Disposable Elastic Structure" by Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,011 titled "Disposable Elastic Structure" by Smith. These structures, however, are likewise still relatively expensive and difficult to manufacture in high volume, and often lack the necessary comfort for wearers of a disposable undergarment and waistband. The structures generally are also constructed to be integrally formed with the undergarment panel and not detachably connected to the panel.